After Avarice
by Running For Anothers Dream
Summary: They are alone now, with Greed gone. Five lost souls with nowhere else to go and nothing left to lose but each other. No guidance, no purpose, and Todd is so lost without the older man around. Doesn't know what to do, but knows that he cannot go back to being on his own. So the others leave, and he follows, and the world is different without Avarice.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This story is for my sister, based off of a random conversation that the two of us had. It's an Alternate Time-line kind of thing, where Edward and Greed get into a fight...at a different time from in the anime or the mange. Sloth and Wrath both live in the Devil's Nest with Greed, and Todd has been living there for quite a while now.

Enjoy the first chapter.

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Todd doesn't do much after he gets the news. Just sits at the front of the Devil's Nest, legs pulled up to his chest and his chin resting on his knees. Stares out the dirty and cracked window as though he's expecting to see Greed come walking up at any moment, laughing and grinning and maybe even holding a piece of candy for Wrath.

Sometimes, the young mutant will get up and look around the bar. Those wide golden eyes will blink, trying to take in the somber and dimly lit building. They'll land on Martel or Dorochet, and the chimera will try and smile at him.

Talk to him.

Say something.

But Todd just stares and stares and those dark eyes don't seem to really take them in. He doesn't speak to them, but he'll look around the room and furrow his brow, like he can't remember why he stood up in the first place.

"Hey, kid," calls Martel, and she pats one of the stools beside her.

Todd takes a moment to stare at her, and then he just turns around and makes his way back over to where he sits, just in front of the window. Curls up in that tight little ball of his, and starts looking out the window again.

Time passes. Minutes, hours, days. At one point, Sloth comes up from her bedroom. She looks at Todd and Martel briefly thinks that the dark haired woman doesn't know - Sloth was asleep when Greed died, after all.

Martel opens her mouth to say something, call Sloth over to her, but then she stops because Sloth isn't looking at her. Instead, she's looking at Todd and her eyes are darker than normal.

Without speaking, Sloth crosses the room and sits down on the floor beside Todd, legs folding beneath her. Holds one arm out to the side and tilts her head down, so that dark hair falls in her face.

"Come here, sweetheart." she says, and Todd listens. Clambers into her lap and clings to her, small hands wrapping in dark fabric and face burrowing into the crook of her neck.

He looks like a child, thinks Martel, and kids shouldn't look that sad.

From that moment on, Sloth takes up the silent vigil beside Todd. The homonculous is always touching Todd - an arm over the young boy's shoulder, a hand on his back, letting the child cling to her and curl up with her and cry onto her shoulder like it was still that very first day, and Martel had to tell him that there had been a problem.

It's sweet, but also sad, and then one day the look on Todd's face change. Listless eyes perk up, sharpen, and he lifts his head up and out of Sloth's lap. A pale hand falls from his head but the homonculous doesn't wake from her slumber and Todd is left to sit up on his own.

Martel watches but doesn't speak, because she hasn't seen that much life in Todd's eyes in almost two weeks now. So she doesn't move, but she pays attention. Wants to know what brought that life back, so maybe she can do it too.

For his part, Todd is pressed close to the window, hands against the pane and mouth open slightly. Like he can't believe what he's seeing. And he can't, because that blond hair is so recognizable and those golden eyes could never be mistaken.

Todd is stumbling out the door before he even realizes that he is standing, letting it swing shut behind him on creaking hinges.

Across from him, Edward freezes. Those sharp eyes take him in, look him over, and then soften.

Todd doesn't notice, doesn't care, can't get over the fact that Edward would dare show his face at the Devil's Nest. Would dare show up around Todd!

"You!" It's meant to sound angry, accusing even, but Todd hasn't spoken in so long and it just comes out broken and rasping. His hands tremble, even curled into fists at his sides, and those golden eyes of his narrow.

"Todd?" asks Edward, and he sounds almost surprised to see the young mutant. Like he thought that Todd would leave if Greed wasn't there, and why hadn't that happened again?

In that instance, Todd cannot remember. Cannot remember anything but the look on Greed's face when he ruffled his hair, promising to be back soon and not to tell Wrath where he was going. Cannot remember anything but the ache that had settled in his chest not two days later, or was it three? Four? Five? When Martel had told him the news, explained that Greed was dead and would never come back.

That Edward Elric had killed him.

"Bastard," spits Todd, and then he's moving again but not thinking. A leg flies out, and it's more powerful then it should be - all lithe muscle and strong bone and unending strength. If he had actually been aiming right, it would have snapped Edward's neck.

As it is, the alchemist reacts on instinct and moves away, leaping backwards. Todd's foot slams down onto the road and small spider web cracks appear in the asphalt.

"W-what the Hell!" shouts Edward, because he knew there would be trouble coming here but he hadn't expected this. Hadn't expected Todd or the hatred that gleamed out of those usually friendly eyes.

Todd doesn't answer, just lunges again. He is all legs and arms and pure rage, and doesn't think when he moves. Doesn't make contact much but, when he does, it hurts and a scream is his reward.

For a moment, Todd thinks he has broken Edward's arm. Then he realizes that it is just automail the other boy is cradling, but there is real fear in his eyes.

And that's good, right?

Right.

Todd braces himself. Lunges again, right leg out. When he hits the ground, two foot to the left of his intended blond target, he suddenly realizes that he cannot see. Tears run down his face, cutting across pale cheeks and chapped lips, and Todd's legs won't stop trembling.

He hits the ground, hard. There will be nasty bruises on his knees later, but Todd doesn't think about that now. Just curls boney fingers into his hair and wonders if it hurt when Greed died, or if it was quick and painless like the older man deserved.

A steady hand comes down on Todd's shoulder, and it protrudes far more than it should, covered by nothing but that too-large shirt he has on.

"Todd?" asks Edward, and he sounds wary.

Should be wary, thinks Todd, should be afraid.

Except that he no longer has the energy to get up, and just tilts his head back so that brown hair frames his tired face. The life is gone from his eyes again, and when he speaks there is nothing but an empty sort of hatred there. "You killed him, you bastard! You - you...killed him."

And the words may be hollow, but they strike Edward as though they were a physical force. He jerks back, drawing his hand away as though it has been stung, something akin to horror appearing on his face.

Broken horror, a muted reflection of the look on Todd's own face.

"I didn't mean too," insists Edward, shaking his head.

Todd just stares up at him, because that's a stupid thing to say.

Didn't mean too, didn't mean too, didn't mean too. People fight when they mean too, because if he doesn't, Todd just runs. They kill when they need too, because if he doesn't, Todd just runs. They hurt when they mean too, because Todd knows that all too well and his chest aches right then, like someone is digging a blade into it and twisting.

It shows in his eyes, dead eyes, and Edward can't meet them anymore.

Martel can't watch anymore. She slams her hand down on the outer wall of the bar and stomps one foot, drawing the alchemist's attention to herself.

Todd's gaze never leaves Edward.

"You there! Get out of my fucking sight, before I rip that arm off and shove it down your throat," snarls Martel, and it's more harsh then she usually is when dealing with the Elrics, but she doesn't care. Feels as though Edward deserves it even.

For his part, Edward listens. Backs away from the bar and from Todd, who's gaze just keeps following him - and is he crying now, Edward can't help but wonder, or is he too far past that point?

Pauses for a moment, just to try. Because he has too. Can't leave without trying once more.

"Please, Martel! I didn't -" Edward cuts himself off there, because a second person has joined Martel at the front of the bar, and she is tall and dark and achingly familiar.

Tired eyes look at Edward, through him, instead landing on the trembling form of Todd. Slow steps carry Sloth outside of the building that she so rarely leaves and over to the young mutant, because he is calling her without words and without meaning too.

"It's okay, sweetheart." says Sloth, resting a pale hand on Todd's head.

Todd's grip on his hair tightens, until it hurts but that's fine, just fine, and he leans into the Homonculous' touch all the same. Doesn't speak though and that fact strikes Martel hard.

Her mouth is open to yell at Edward again when she realizes that the blond is gone.

Todd continues to cry, anger gone and leaving behind nothing but a hollow void. Empty. Broken. Lost.

Sloth doesn't move.

Martel frowns and worries and wonders, but goes back inside all the same.

Another day, she tells herself, give Todd one more day.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: The long awaited second chapter! -crickets chirp- Okay, yeah. So I'm the only one waiting for it?

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Time passes, but it does not pass quickly. Each second, minute, hour, day just seems to stretch on and on, into the unending darkness.

Todd doesn't sit in front of the window anymore. Instead, he stays in one of the back rooms of the Devil's Nest. Usually alone, sometimes with Sloth.

Once, Martel walks past and it is Wrath sitting there.

Both boys are sitting on the floor, legs drawn up to their chest in mirror images of sorrow. Todd's head is tilted down and hair covers his eyes, but Wrath is scowling at the wall and the young homunculous' eyes are dark. Too dark. An angry, empty sort of dark.

Martel decides that she needs to speak to them both then, because this cannot go on forever. Just like they cannot stay in the worn-down bar forever.

"Todd, Wrath." she says, nodding at them.

Wrath looks up at her, with those angry dark eyes of his. Todd doesn't.

Martel sighs, leaning against the doorway. Crosses her arms over her chest and then crosses them, but doesn't speak for the longest moment. When she does, it catches the mutants attention fast.

"We're leaving. In three days. Dorochet and I." says Martel, and Todd's head snaps up so fast that she's surprised it doesn't hurt him. There is surprise and fear and anger in those dark amber eyes, but at least they weren't empty.

"What do you mean you're leaving?" croaks Todd, and Martel takes that previous thought back.

She wishes that Todd's gaze was empty again, because his feelings were coming through in his voice. That fear, that distrust, it was there.

"I mean we're leaving. There's no point staying there if Greed isn't around." answers Martel, and is this the first time that she has said his name since that very first day? When she had to break the news to everyone? Yes, she thinks that it is. Strangly, it doesn't leave her feeling broken.

Just a little stale.

For Todd, it's as though she has just physically struck him. He flinches and draws back, trying to back away from Martel without actually moving. Small, thin arms wrap around his chest and he has to look away from Martel because he thinks he may cry again.

And it's one thing to cry in front of Sloth. Even Wrath or Dorochet.

But Martel is different.

Martel is big and strong and fierce, and someone that Todd actually looks up too. Respects and wants to be respected by. So he tried desperatly not to cry in front of her, but it sounds all too much like someone about to leave him.

Martel doesn't notice, doesn't realize, just keeps talking. "I don't know about Wrath, but I know that Sloth's going to come with us. What about you?"

A moment of silence, broken only by Wrath scrambling up onto his mismatched limbs. "If Mommy's going, then so am I!"

Silence again, and those empty eyes have centered on Martel. She wonders what's going through Todd's mind, then she wonders if she even really wants to know.

Decides she doesn't, because suddenly the young mutant seems all the more broken.

Without someone else by his side, he seems even smaller.

Without Greed, he is lost.

But he speaks anyway, uncurling his limbs as he does so. "I ain't stayin' here."

It's simple, but not the answer that Martel is looking for. Not the answer that she needs. "Are you coming with us or not, kid?"

Todd blinks. Looks almost surprised, actually, and did he think that Martel was just going to leave him? Because that is something that would never happen, could never happen, should never happen.

They are a family now, and Martel may not have dog in her but she was still plenty loyal.

"Yeah, dawg." says Todd, after a moment. He nods and the faintest light flickers in his eyes. "Yeah, I'm comin' too."


End file.
